@phdthesis{Lopes2018, author = {Lopes, Pedro}, title = {Interactive Systems Based on Electrical Muscle Stimulation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421165}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {171}, year = {2018}, abstract = {How can interactive devices connect with users in the most immediate and intimate way? This question has driven interactive computing for decades. Throughout the last decades, we witnessed how mobile devices moved computing into users' pockets, and recently, wearables put computing in constant physical contact with the user's skin. In both cases moving the devices closer to users allowed devices to sense more of the user, and thus act more personal. The main question that drives our research is: what is the next logical step? Some researchers argue that the next generation of interactive devices will move past the user's skin and be directly implanted inside the user's body. This has already happened in that we have pacemakers, insulin pumps, etc. However, we argue that what we see is not devices moving towards the inside of the user's body, but rather towards the body's biological "interface" they need to address in order to perform their function. To implement our vision, we created a set of devices that intentionally borrow parts of the user's body for input and output, rather than adding more technology to the body. In this dissertation we present one specific flavor of such devices, i.e., devices that borrow the user's muscles. We engineered I/O devices that interact with the user by reading and controlling muscle activity. To achieve the latter, our devices are based on medical-grade signal generators and electrodes attached to the user's skin that send electrical impulses to the user's muscles; these impulses then cause the user's muscles to contract. While electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) devices have been used to regenerate lost motor functions in rehabilitation medicine since the 1960s, in this dissertation, we propose a new perspective: EMS as a means for creating interactive systems. We start by presenting seven prototypes of interactive devices that we have created to illustrate several benefits of EMS. These devices form two main categories: (1) Devices that allow users eyes-free access to information by means of their proprioceptive sense, such as the value of a variable in a computer system, a tool, or a plot; (2) Devices that increase immersion in virtual reality by simulating large forces, such as wind, physical impact, or walls and heavy objects. Then, we analyze the potential of EMS to build interactive systems that miniaturize well and discuss how they leverage our proprioceptive sense as an I/O modality. We proceed by laying out the benefits and disadvantages of both EMS and mechanical haptic devices, such as exoskeletons. We conclude by sketching an outline for future research on EMS by listing open technical, ethical and philosophical questions that we left unanswered.}, language = {en} } @article{LimanowskiLopesKecketal.2020, author = {Limanowski, Jakub and Lopes, Pedro and Keck, Janis and Baudisch, Patrick and Friston, Karl and Blankenburg, Felix}, title = {Action-dependent processing of touch in the human parietal operculum and posterior insula}, series = {Cerebral Cortex}, volume = {30}, journal = {Cerebral Cortex}, number = {2}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1047-3211}, doi = {10.1093/cercor/bhz111}, pages = {607 -- 617}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Somatosensory input generated by one's actions (i.e., self-initiated body movements) is generally attenuated. Conversely, externally caused somatosensory input is enhanced, for example, during active touch and the haptic exploration of objects. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to ask how the brain accomplishes this delicate weighting of self-generated versus externally caused somatosensory components. Finger movements were either self-generated by our participants or induced by functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the same muscles. During half of the trials, electrotactile impulses were administered when the (actively or passively) moving finger reached a predefined flexion threshold. fMRI revealed an interaction effect in the contralateral posterior insular cortex (pIC), which responded more strongly to touch during self-generated than during FES-induced movements. A network analysis via dynamic causal modeling revealed that connectivity from the secondary somatosensory cortex via the pIC to the supplementary motor area was generally attenuated during self-generated relative to FES-induced movements-yet specifically enhanced by touch received during self-generated, but not FES-induced movements. Together, these results suggest a crucial role of the parietal operculum and the posterior insula in differentiating self-generated from externally caused somatosensory information received from one's moving limb.}, language = {en} } @misc{KovacsIonLopesetal.2019, author = {Kovacs, Robert and Ion, Alexandra and Lopes, Pedro and Oesterreich, Tim and Filter, Johannes and Otto, Philip and Arndt, Tobias and Ring, Nico and Witte, Melvin and Synytsia, Anton and Baudisch, Patrick}, title = {TrussFormer}, series = {The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology}, journal = {The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-4503-5971-9}, doi = {10.1145/3290607.3311766}, pages = {1}, year = {2019}, abstract = {We present TrussFormer, an integrated end-to-end system that allows users to 3D print large-scale kinetic structures, i.e., structures that involve motion and deal with dynamic forces. TrussFormer builds on TrussFab, from which it inherits the ability to create static large-scale truss structures from 3D printed connectors and PET bottles. TrussFormer adds movement to these structures by placing linear actuators into them: either manually, wrapped in reusable components called assets, or by demonstrating the intended movement. TrussFormer verifies that the resulting structure is mechanically sound and will withstand the dynamic forces resulting from the motion. To fabricate the design, TrussFormer generates the underlying hinge system that can be printed on standard desktop 3D printers. We demonstrate TrussFormer with several example objects, including a 6-legged walking robot and a 4m-tall animatronics dinosaur with 5 degrees of freedom.}, language = {en} } @misc{KovacsIonLopesetal.2018, author = {Kovacs, Robert and Ion, Alexandra and Lopes, Pedro and Oesterreich, Tim and Filter, Johannes and Otto, Philip and Arndt, Tobias and Ring, Nico and Witte, Melvin and Synytsia, Anton and Baudisch, Patrick}, title = {TrussFormer}, series = {UIST '18: Proceedings of the 31st Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology}, journal = {UIST '18: Proceedings of the 31st Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-4503-5948-1}, doi = {10.1145/3242587.3242607}, pages = {113 -- 125}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present TrussFormer, an integrated end-to-end system that allows users to 3D print large-scale kinetic structures, i.e., structures that involve motion and deal with dynamic forces. TrussFormer builds on TrussFab, from which it inherits the ability to create static large-scale truss structures from 3D printed connectors and PET bottles. TrussFormer adds movement to these structures by placing linear actuators into them: either manually, wrapped in reusable components called assets, or by demonstrating the intended movement. TrussFormer verifies that the resulting structure is mechanically sound and will withstand the dynamic forces resulting from the motion. To fabricate the design, TrussFormer generates the underlying hinge system that can be printed on standard desktop 3D printers. We demonstrate TrussFormer with several example objects, including a 6-legged walking robot and a 4m-tall animatronics dinosaur with 5 degrees of freedom.}, language = {en} }